Butterfly
by Kait-chan
Summary: Cho Morrison is a wanted thief who has to steal in order to survive. But the military wouldn't understand that, would they? When it seems that Cho has finally caught a break and gotten some adventure, she learns that not everything of her thieving life is entirely black and white. Can she mature, or will she stay the same - uncaring and predatory? [Ling/OC/Greed]
1. Chapter One

**FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD**

**BUTTERFLY**

**By** Kait

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, otherwise I would have kept my favourite characters alive (HINT: Greed).

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Hello? Can someone _please _let me out of here now?" the girl moaned, clinging to the metal bars of her cell. A guard was positioned to guard the lone cell, an honor that was questionable to the man. He had often wondered over the previous hours, _What could one little girl do to me? And in a _cell_, for goodness sake!_ The girl was even set away from other prisoners, raising the question, _What exactly had she done?_

"Hellooo? Are you still awaaake?" the young woman, named Cho, sang, now banging her head against the bars, each gentle _thump _raising the man's impatience even more. If anything, the girl was going to annoy him to death; exactly how dangerous was she?

"Would you please _shut up_?" the guard finally answered, afraid that Cho was going to get a concussion from repeatedly banging her head against the metal. As the man glared at the lady, she grinned and stopped with her self-injury routine.

"Oh, so you _are _awake! I thought you had _died_ out of boredom!" The girl grinned again, blinking strange golden eyes at him. Upon closer inspection, she also had chestnut hair with red streaks through it, which she frequently pushed out of her benevolent yellow-orange orbs. Cho looked only about seventeen, not the age of a criminal, the guard thought idly.

"I think that I'm dying, mister," the girl whined, clutching her stomach. She whimpered slightly, then started banging her head again. "I'm sooo hungry... and thirsty... Pleeease let me ooout...," She obviously liked to exagerate her Os, which had irritated the guard for the last few hours. "And I think I'm about to explooode..." The last comment grabbed the guard's attention; he did _not _need to be cleaning up another mess.

Muttering darkly to himself, the man quickly walked down the long hallway and asked for some backup, which was required in order to let the young lady out of her cell. Armed with three men, the guard returned to the girl, who looked like she had passed out on the floor.

"Is she still _alive_?" one of the men asked as he poked her with a gloved finger. Only a weak grumble was the response, but it seemed to be enough for the young guard. "Up-si-daisy - ARG-" Cho had brought her knee up and smashed it into the guard's face as he helped her up, and the guard lay moaning on the ground, clutching his nose as blood spurted out.

The girl quickly pushed through the three remaining shocked men and ran through the deserted hallway, prisoners either cheering her on or begging for her to let them out. One of the guards finally managed to understand what was happening and unholstered his gun, pointing it at the girl's back.

"Don't shoot, DON'T SHOOT-" the first guard yelled, tackling the guard with the gun. "What are you thinking! We don't want another Ishbal!"

When the guards looked up again, the strange girl was gone, and so was their chances at ever being promoted.

* * *

"I'm lost..." Cho muttered, pouting. Even though her break-out had gone successfully, she still had no idea where she was. Although she had gotten out of the prison without getting shot, she was running around the huge place like a chicken with its head chopped off. Not only was she confused, but she really _was _hungry and thirsty, the two not just a ploy she had set up to get out of her cell.

_I'm going to starve to death, _the girl thought faintly, leaning on a brick building as she walked, clutching her stomach. _No one will remember me then. _She sighed, imagining her grave: _Cho Morrison: Died of Starvation - Not Mention Worthy._ Cho finally stumbled onto a street with people on it, though they were all crowded around something in the middle. Even curious with her ravenous hunger, Cho cursed about how small she was and tried to push people out of the way to get a peek at what they were gaping at.

It looked like a body was laying on the street, mouth hanging open, saliva pooling around the face. It was more humorous than it was dramatic, but Cho felt a little sympathetic with the boy. _This is what I'll be_, she thought sadly, crouching by the stranger. She poked him, wondering if he was still alive.

"Food... I need...food..." he mumbled, making Cho jump. An idea suddenly lit her mind on fire, making her cast a devious grin on the boy in front of her. He gave her an odd look, then passed out again, which was fine by her.

"Somebody help! I think that he's dying!" she cried, making her voice sound frantic. She started shaking the boy. "Somebody get him some food! It looks like he hasn't eaten in weeks!"

* * *

Cho leaned back in her chair and sighed, content; the food she had eaten was delicious, and she didn't even have to pay for any of it. The boy she had "saved" was still eating, astounding the people they were mooching off of. He hadn't seemed to care that she was using him for her own benefit, but he still hadn't came up to breathe since food was set in front of him.

Now that Cho wasn't starving, she looked closer at the boy: he wore an open yellow shirt that showed a strap that hinted he was armed with a sword of some kind; he kept his eyes closed, especially while he smiled, which was frequently; he had black hair with which was held in a pony-tail by a white ribbon in the back; and he had the tanned complexion of no ordinary Amestrian. Perhaps he was from Xing, in the East, which would explain the strange clothes and the strange eyes, Cho mused idly.

The slurping of food suddenly stopped, and Cho realized that the boy must be done. _Thank goodness_, she thought, _I thought that this would go on forever! _The girl leaned forward again and put her hands in her lap as the onlookers hesitantly moved away, seeming almost disappointed that the entertainment had ended.

"Well, it seems like you are no stranger to charity, hmm?" the boy finally said after a moment of silence, and Cho looked up to the face that was smiling warmly at her.

She blinked then smirked, putting her arms behind her head and laughing. "That's what you call it, huh? 'Charity,'" She chuckled, narrowing her golden orbs at the strange boy. "_I _call it mooching off of complete strangers." Cho sighed happily; what complete fools people were.

"Whichever you call it, it is the same thing," the boy said, shrugging and putting his hands up. "But, the important question is," He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, opening his eyelids just the tiniest bit so that Cho could see black eyes peering at her rather curiously. "what is such a pretty young lady doing running around in a big place like this and taking charity-" The girl coughed and glared at the boy. "-_mooching,_ food off of kind people?"

Cho snorted. "Didn't look like you were complaining much." she chirped, grinning.

"Ah, but you see, _I _am a prince and must be accustomed to commoners throwing things at my feet."

There was a long silence while Cho thought about what the boy had declared, said boy looking proud and obviously expecting for her to bow down to him. _As if_.

The girl snickered into her hand, clutching her stomach and trying not to annoy the poor "prince" too much. "You, who passed out on the street and gladly mooched off of those kind people, a prince? Ha! And I'm the queen of Wonderland!"

"Heeey," the prince whined, his eyes closed once more. "It's not funny!" His wilting expression just made Cho laugh harder, and people sitting at other tables started to look strangely at the two teenagers.

Still chuckling, Cho got out of her chair and looked over at the boy again. "Well, Princey, I've got more interesting things to do, but thanks for the food!" The girl waved and grinned, turning away, but almost fell on her face when she felt a hand grab the back of her shirt roughly.

"Hey, hands off," she huffed, watching as the prince smiled at her sheepishly.

"I wanted to know the name of the person who fed me," the boy said simply, smiling at Cho.

The girl rolled her eyes and put her hands in the air, in a _What the hell_ position and said, "It's Cho, and I'm currently 'Cho, the wanted criminal,' you should know." She gestured at the prince. "And what about you, Princey?"

The boy smiled brilliantly and stood up taller, looking proud. "Ling, the 12th prince of Xing-" Ling declared, but Cho was already walking away.

"Yeah, we've already covered that," she said, looking over her shoulder. "Well, bye, Princey!" she called, waving while she walked away. "I hope I never see you again!"

"Heeey, how rude!"

* * *

Cho slowly tiptoed out of a food store with food stored under her shirt, hoping that no one would notice when a disappointed voice made her jump. "Stealing isn't nice, Butterfly." Cho swore and glared at the boy who was leaning on the wall, the corners of his mouth tipped down in a frown. "I should turn you in."

"I saved your ass before," the guilty girl muttered, walking up to the prince. "And who are you calling Butterfly? And, _why are you here?_" Cho huffed, putting her hands on her hips, forgetting about the food stored underneath her clothing, which came flying out and landed at Ling's feet.

"...when I said commoners should throw things at my feet, I did not know you took it literally." Ling sighed as he pushed himself off of the wall, then grinned. "And your name means 'Butterfly,' does it not?"

Cho huffed and looked away. After a moment, she remembered her last question and faced the prince again. "Are you _stalking _me or something, Princey? Because I said pretty clearly that I _didn't _want to see you again." she snapped, crossing her arms.

Ling put a hand over his heart and looked hurt. "But I wanted to see _you _again, Butterfly," he whined, and hastily hugged the ticked off girl, rubbing his cheek against her own. "You were so nice to me, you-" Cho pushed the boy away and kicked him to where he lied, upside-down, on the wall he had been leaning on. "You kicked me!" he cried.

"For one," Cho began, holding up one finger as she glared at the boy. "_I am not 'Butterfly'_; it's _Cho_. Second, _no hugs! _You already cost me my dinner for tonight...," The girl pouted, glancing at the dirty food lying around her feet. "Whatever, I can deal with it." She shook off the pout and glared at the prince again. "And three, _do not follow me_. You see? I'm going to leave now, so don't, otherwise, I swear I'll come over there and-"

"Okay! I understand Butterfly! No following..." The prince pouted, and Cho grudgingly thought that he looked sort of cute, like a scolded puppy. The girl shook her head and began to leave. After a few steps, she looked behind her to look at Ling; he was still upside-down, where she had left him. A few more steps, and she looked again, to the same result. As she neared a corner and turned onto that street, she started running, then sprinting until she thought that she had lost the odd boy.

Cho sighed happily and leaned against a brick wall, sweat glistening on her forehead. "No strange foreign puppies following me around anymore... Phew...," As Cho began to walk again, she heard footsteps behind her and froze. When she spun around, she was only greeted with a lone shopping bag flitting around with the breeze. Cho realized she had been holding her breath, and let it out. She turned back around - only to find her face so close to someone else's that she could feel their breath on her cheeks.

"ARG - WHAT ARE _YOU _DOING HERE?!"

* * *

**I'm just going to try this out; writing an OC into the original plot. Well, whomever is reading, I hope that you like this! I love Ling; he's just so adorable! X3**

**I was trying make Cho as childish as I could, since I thought that if she was too mean, it wouldn't make Ling moments as funny.**

**I was originally going to make Cho's name something else, but then I saw that I written a documents with a bunch of Japanese names, and I thought that "Butterfly" fits her attitude! Please tell me what you think. X3**

**-Kait-chan**


	2. Chapter Two

**FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD**

**BUTTERFLY**

**By** Kait

**DISCLAIMER:** I absolutely, magnificently, generally doubt that I own Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. So, no, I do not.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

Cho sipped on a drink she had stolen from another person's table as she listened to Ling explain to her why he was in this country. It wasn't like she cared, but it seemed like the prince wouldn't leave her alone. Three times she had tried to ditch him, and three times he had always managed to figure out where she was at. Rather than be frustrated, Cho was curious and up to the challenge of losing him sometime, when he least expected it.

There was a lengthy pause after Ling finished explaining. Cho considered the prince's motives; he was ambitious, almost overly so, and seemed serious upon the matter he was discussing. "The Philosopher's Stone, huh?" she finally asked, staring with a thoughtful expression at the table. Ling nodded and the two fell back into a familar silence.

"Well, I've never heard of it, but it would prove interesting," Cho mused, smiling. "I could get anything; food, drink, anything that I fancy..." She smirked and closed her eyes. "Seems almost unbelievable."

When the girl opened her eyes again, she noticed that the prince was frowning at her. "What?" Cho snapped, narrowing her golden eyes.

"You are thinking far too simply, Butterfly." Ling grinned when Cho growled at his nickname for her. "Imagine having immortality; you could have everything you named, and so much more." The boy put his elbows on the table and leaned his head on one fist, opening his squinty black eyes. "That would ensure I become the next emperor of Xing."

Cho shrugged and swallowed the last of her stolen drink. "Doesn't matter to me, but good luck with that." When Ling grinned and looked about ready to glomp her, Cho held up a hand. "Now, don't go about it the wrong way; I _want _you to get your little fairy tale so that you'll leave me alone." She sighed as the prince's face suddenly dropped to the table, a depressed aura surrounding the area.

"Now, how about I steal some dessert?"

"Stealing is bad, Butterfly,"

"Shut up, and _stop calling me Butterfly!_"

* * *

One failed ditch attempt later, Cho stood looking at a passed out, moaning Ling. The girl took her chance to slip away, since she knew that it would be a while until someone noticed the dead-looking teenager. Chuckling to herself, she was seated at an outside restaurant, enjoying the quietness of not having an annoying prince on her heels when she heard a familiar voice:

"Ah, you saved my life!"

_It...It's not possible..._

Cho turned around in her chair - and faced a grinning Ling and two unfamilar people, one a short kid with blonde hair in a braid and another in a suit of armor. She was silent for a moment until she found herself staring at Ling and him staring back at her in bewilderment.

"YOU!" she shouted when he shouted, "BUTTERFLY!"

Suddenly Cho was trying to shake off a clingy Ling while a waterfall of tears fell down her face. "Get oooff..." she moaned, being strangled to death.

"I knew that you couldn't stay away, Butterfly!" Ling cheered, rubbing his cheek against hers. "I missed youuu," The scene would have been adorable if Cho hadn't been so stoic. The two strangers just looked on, shocked into silence.

"Help...me..."

* * *

Cho had her face touching the table as she listened to Ling explain to the two boys - brothers - what he had explained to her a few hours ago.

"Why would you travel all the way from Xing?" the short blonde asked, his eyes flickering with curiosity.

"I am here to research something called alkahistory, or alchemy here. It is widely used medically in Xing." Ling explained.

"Huh," shorty said. "Here, it's mostly used for the military." He then shook his head and asked, "We'd like to learn about your alkahistory. Could you tell us?"

Ling's expression perked up. "Oh, are you two possibly alchemists?" It was then that the kid flashed the Xing boy a proud smile.

"Yup; I'm the State Alchemist Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, and this is my brother, Alphonse." Alphonse gave a small wave while Edward looked smug and crossed his arms. "Now, about this alkahistory... Can you tell us how it's done?"

Cho let out an immense sigh as she waited for Ling's response. The prince shrugged and flashed the boys a sheepish grin. "Afraid not. I am not an alkahistorist." At that, Cho heard the brothers fall to the ground.

"Huh? Then why would you come all the way here to research it?" the short blonde snapped. The kid was obviously hot-headed and had a temper, Cho mused idly as she continued to listen into the conversation.

"Well, I thought that it could lead me to something..." Ling trailed off and propped his arm on the table. "Perhaps you've heard of it? The Philosopher's Stone?" At the two words, Ling's squinty eyes opened and the Elric boys stiffened in response. "Well?"

"Never heard of it," Edward answered, getting up. Cho lifted her head up and pouted as she watched the strange boys leave. Leaving her with the idiot prince she had contracted like a parasite. "But I think we should go now."

"I don't think so." was Ling's cold response, and Cho whipped her head around to stare at the serious look on his face. The prince snapped his fingers and a glint of metal caught Cho's eye, following two black forms that had suddenly appeared. "You _do _know something," Ling continued, smiling in an odd way. "Tell me."

"I don't answer too well when there's someone holding a piece of metal to my throat," Edward growled, who had froze. "What do you want with the Stone, anyway?"

"Immortality."

Cho glanced back at the brothers and wondered what was going on. _Who cares? _she wondered, smirking. _This is entertaining._

"Hey," Edward called suddenly, and Cho realized that it was she that he was trying to address.

"Wha?"

"Are you just going to let your friend threaten two perfect strangers?" the blonde asked, and Cho snorted.

"He's not my friend, for one...," Cho mumbled, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "And two, watching this play out is fun!" The girl grinned and leaned back in her chair.

Cho heard the Fullmetal kid scoff as he started pushing away the blade against his neck. "I won't just stand here and be threatened into telling you something," Edward said, talking to Ling again.

Then the fighting began.

* * *

Cho whistled as alchemy wrecked the streets of Rush Valley. She had her golden eyes narrowed in amusement, her mouth set into a grin when she heard chewing sounds by her side. Her mood was ruined.

"How can you be eating at a time like _this_?" Cho asked, crossing her arms to her chest and glaring at the innocent looking prince. He raised his hands in a shrug and swallowed, giving her a small grin.

"There is nothing I can do until they surrender," the prince said, then gestured at the food on the table as his grin grew wider. "Besides, there is no need to waste such delicious food!"

"Pig...," the girl muttered as she looked away to the disaster the boys and their opponents were creating.

"Ah, you wound me, Butterfly!"

Cho was about to snap at the prince about her nickname when a large explosion went off. The girl glanced at the streams of smoke that flew up and into the sky with wide eyes. Cho looked back at Ling and pointed to the area the explosion was seen. "Was that... Was that...?"

Ling got to his feet and grabbed the girl's hand and then proceeded to drag her out of her seat while grinning impishly. "Ah, I should probably check up on them now."

* * *

The golden-eyed girl blinked as she peered at the scene before her from her position behind the Xingese prince. Edward stood looking with triumph at the prize hanging above his head, which was a young girl around Ling's age, who was tied up and looked mildly annoyed. Alphonse also had a hostage, who looked like an old man with white hair, and was also tied up. The area around them looked beat-up and blown up, and a small crowd was gathering. Cho groaned inwardly. To her, it was second nature to not attract attention, but it seemed that Ling liked making a flashy entrance.

"Good job, guys!" the said prince chirped in, holding up a hand, and Cho face-palmed as she hid behind the boy.

"You!" Edward bellowed as he pointed a finger at Ling, who only brushed off Fullmetal's murderous glare.

"You guys seem to be able to take care of yourselves; how about we team up and rule this country!" Ling grinned while Cho sweat-dropped.

Edward looked like he was about to answer when a "Hey, you!" errupted from the gathering crowd. He turned and stared as the masses advanced toward him, giving him an intense glare.

"You guys wrecked the place! Who's going to pay for repairs?" one angry guy asked.

"Yeah!" A cheer went up among the crowd.

"And what about this dining bill?" another man asked, holding out a small piece of paper.

"Hey, hey," Fullmetal said, backing up a step and pointing at Ling and Cho. "This guy and his cronies should pay for everything!" The blonde looked back at the boy and girl, obviously expecting for them to agree.

Cho blinked as Ling waved his hands around in a _What? _gesture and said, "No understand much language of country! Bye-bye!" The girl let out a startled yelp as the prince ran away and jumped down from the wreckage, dragging her along with him.

An outraged "Hey, come back here!" echoed behind them as they ran. After several minutes, Cho looked over her shoulder and noticed that no shorty was running after them with a suit of armor following behind. "Hey, Princey," the girl piped up as they slowed down. "I think that we're fine now."

"Phew," Ling sighed as he leaned against a building. "I thought that he was going to murder me!" Before Cho could answer the prince with a grin, Ling's stomach growled, interrupting her.

"I'm hungry again!" the boy whined, clutching his stomach in pain. Cho just stared at the prince and grinned. Ling looked at her strange then said, "Butterfly, are you going to run away again? Butterfly?" Cho was already running away, letting out loud whoops as the boy collasped.

_When have I _not _ran away?_

"Free! I'm free...!" Cho suddenly let out an "Oomf!" as she was grabbed by the back of her shirt. The girl hung feebly as an angry face looked at her with narrowed eyes full of fury.

"I don't think so," Edward growled as he let her land on her feet, which had only been a few inches off of the ground.

"Oh, hey, Shorty," Cho muttered as she hung her head. _Darn._

"HEY, WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOU CAN'T SEE HIM?! Wait, we're the same height!" The boy put a hand to his head when Cho straightened and brought it to her forehead. "Yeah, we are!"

"So? I'm a girl," the girl muttered, crossing her arms.

Ed fumed while Cho glared at him, until Alphonse suddenly asked, "Hey, where's Ling? Weren't you with him?" She shrugged and looked at her feet.

"He's passed out somewhere," she said as she looked back up.

Ed was starting to walk away, and Cho followed hesitantly as he talked again. "Well, whatever, he's gone. Hey, we're back!" he shouted as the trio walked into a small automail shop.

And sitting at a small table in the front were two people. One was a strangely dressed person, and the other, also strangely dressed, was none other than the boy she had ran away from earlier.

_Ling._

"YOU!" both Edward and Cho yelled, pointing at the Xingese boy.

"We meet again!" Ling grinned, holding up a hand in greeting. "And you found Butterfly, too!"

Ed stomped up to the prince and smacked him a few times in the head with his unattached automail arm. "What - are - you - doing - HERE?!" Ling was hit with every word that came out of Fullmetal's mouth. Cho sunk to the ground and lay there, twitching.

"No...no...nooo..."

"Um," Alphonse said as he peered down at the depressed girl. "Are you okay, miss?" Cho just waved off the boy's concern.

"Yeah," she mumbled, getting back up. "And you can just call me Cho." She flashed Alphonse a grin before she turned to growl "NOT BUTTERFLY," at Ling. She huffed and crossed her arms as the prince grinned at her.

"Come on, Butterfly, you know you lo-" A shoe suddenly flew through the air and bonked Ling on the head, which knocked him out cold.

"I AM NOT BUTTERFLY!"

* * *

As Cho played with a clump of hair that wouldn't stay in place on her head, Ling explained who he and his "cronies" were. The part about him being royalty made the two brothers react exactly the way she thought they would.

"A prince? You? Ha!" Edward scoffed, rolling around on the floor laughing. "Someone who passes out on the street and mooches off of people?" The boy could hardly talk and was thumping the ground with one hand.

"Heeey, guys, what's so funny?" The prince pouted.

"I'm sorry," Alphonse said, also on the ground laughing. "But it's just so ridiculous..."

"You see what I've been dealing with?" Cho sighed and put her head in her hands. "This guy is a joke-" Something suddenly thumped above her head, and when she looked up, she scooted away, trying to distance herself from the blade that had burrowed itself into the surface of the wall a few inches above her head.

"You will not say such things about the young Lord," a cold voice said as black-and-grey eyes bored into Cho's skull from the window across from her position on the floor.

As Cho growled, movement from the front of the shop caught her eye. A girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes was coming in, looking over her shoulder in bewilderment. "Hey, I'm back. There was some kind of disturbance, so-" Everyone in the shop froze as the girl's head swung around with her blue eyes narrowed, zeroing in on Edward's automail arm, which was on his shoulder, like a sword.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME, YOU IDIOT?!"

* * *

Cho sat on the roof of the automail shop, cross-legged, as she ate a stale piece of bread, silently spying on the conversation underneath, though it didn't seem like there was a lot to listen to. Ling's two ninja were on the roof also, only answering "We need to protect the young Lord," when she asked why.

"Hey, ninja girl," the golden-eyed girl said to the black-clad girl with black hair and light grey eyes. The girl seemed startled for a moment that Cho was speaking to her, then put on a poker-face and gave a slight, "Hmm?"

"What are your names? Ling never told me, and I don't making stupid nicknames like he does." Cho put her arms behind her head and leaned back so that her back touched the roof, looking up curiously at the strange silent Xingese girl.

The ninja was silent for a while, so long that Cho was afraid that she wouldn't get an answer, when she heard a quiet but solid, "I am Lan Fan, and my companion is my grandfather, Fu. We are tasked to protect the young Lord on his journey for immortality."

"Ah," Cho answered, sitting back up. She stared out at the people of Rush Valley for a moment before she finally said, "The name's Cho, and I steal for a living. I've been wandering around for a while now... Before I came here, I was stealing around Dublith." Cho looked back at Lan Fan to find that the girl was giving her an odd look. Golden eyes narrowed in amusement, and a smirk touched Cho's lips. "What? Don't like stealing? Are you going to arrest me?"

Lan Fan looked away and mumbled, "It is none of my concern."

"Mhmm, I thought so," Cho chirped as she listened back into the conversation below.

"I need to go to Central right away!"

"Central? Then I shall follow suit!"

"What? We don't need you and your cronies to follow us everywhere we go!"

_Central? _Cho mused to herself and tilted her head to the side in a quizzical position. _Interesting..._

Just as she heard footsteps coming her way from below, Cho crawled onto her stomach and let half of her body fall off of the roof, so that she was hanging upside-down in front of a bewildered Elric brother.

"WHAT ARE YOU, HALF BAT?!"

"Central?" Cho grinned and stared with her golden eyes at Ed's own, ignoring his comment. "I'm coming, too!"

"WHAT? NO!"

"Oh, come on, Shorty!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOU HAVE TO LOOK DOWN TO SEE HIM?! WE'RE THE SAME HEIGHT!"

* * *

**O-kay, so that's chapter two. If whomever is reading hasn't/never-will look at my profile, I'll just say: I've decided to update every two weeks (or around that time). If I have not, you have the right to come up to me and smack me on the head (because I tend to procrastinate - and I have no sense of time...)**

**I would like to thank those who followed, and any readers. **

**Oh, and, I know that on the "World" I put "Manga" - and it's true that I'm going by that. But I've generally been basing it on the second anime, since it pretty much goes by the manga. So if you see me using "Ling" instead of "Lin", it's because I've just watched the anime recently. If you feel that I am being impolite to the category I put it in, could you please tell me and I'll either change his name or the category? Thank you. Sorry for the inconvenience~**

**-Kait-chan**


	3. Chapter Three

**FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD**

**BUTTERFLY**

**by **Kait

**DISCLAIMER: **I am an amateur anime artist, buuut I'm pretty sure that I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood or any of the characters. Maybe in an alternate reality! (Not really.)

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Cho was running, her breath coming out in ragged little clumps, her insides cramping. But she was grinning. Grinning as she ran away from a bunch of men cursing at her fast legs and holding lethal-looking knives. When the girl turned a corner, she found herself looking at another man with a sword at his hip leaning on a wall a few feet away._

_She blinked, but continued running._

_"Look, kid," the man said, glaring at her running form as she came nearer and nearer. "You're insane to-" Instead of stopping to talk to the man, Cho grabbed onto his hand and continued running, dragging him along with her. "What're you-?" he asked, then glanced behind as the clomp of many feet rounded the corner. He groaned and ran with the girl. "You just love to tick people off, don't you?" Cho just gave him a grin._

_"What were you saying?"_

_"What? It can wait..." The man then pulled Cho away from the place she had been running to, which, in the end, was going nowhere. "Look, let's just get to the bar, okay? They wouldn't dare cross Boss's territory."_

* * *

Someone was poking Cho's cheek, making her squirm and shoo the offending hand away. "Go away, Dolcetto...," she murmured, snuggling into something warm and solid. The man's face from her dream came to mind, and she smiled. She was probably leaning her head on his shoulder again, and he would blush, trying to get her off as they argued. "Let me sleep some more..."

"Aww, that's really adorable, Butterfly! But who is this Dolcetto?" Cho snapped her eyes open and scooted away from the voice, confused and bewildered. Sitting in front of her was Ling, the annoying prince she had tried so hard to get rid of. Not Dolcetto. The boy was looking at her strangely, his head tilted slightly to the side.

"W-what?" Cho snapped, huffing and glaring at the prince. He blinked and gestured at the window to her left.

"We're stopped. We can get off now."

"O-oh..."

There was a moment of silence, then Ling said, "Are you alright, Cho?"

"Yup," Cho lied, grinning at the prince as she got up and began walking out of the train. Her eyes stung, but she ignored them and blamed the sensation on just waking up. It took her until she was out of the train to realize that Ling had said her name for the first time since they had met.

* * *

"Where are we even going?" a ticked off, hungry, tired, pessimistic Cho asked as the two teenagers walked around the streets of Central.

"Do not look so glum, my little Butterfly! I'm just exploring this strange place, since I've never been to this country before. Can't you show a foreigner a good time?" The prince grinned at the girl - who had been sneaking away.

"What, did you say something?"

Ling sighed and shook his head as he took Cho's hand. "No running away, Butterfly." he ordered, pointing at her with his free hand. She pouted and tried to shake his hand off, to no avail.

"I'm not a dog, Princey! I do what I want, when I want."

"There are hundreds of thousands of people who want nothing more than to spend time with a real prince! You should feel honored that I've allowed you to travel with me!" A vein throbbed on Cho's head when she heard the word _honored_ and _allowed_.

The girl bit her tongue in order not to slaughter the prince with words and turned away, crossing her arms when Ling let go of her hand. After a few moments of mutual silence, Cho heard the boy exhale loudly.

"Butterfly," she heard Ling say, and she looked his way.

"What now - oh."

A rough sketch of Cho was on one of the buildings they were passing by, and said,

ESCAPED CRIMINAL. WAS SEEN HEADING TOWARD CENTRAL. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. BE CAUTIOUS.

Cho rubbed the back of her neck, trying to appear casual, as Ling just stared at her with closed eyes as if he had never seen her before. Finally he said, "What are you doing on a wanted poster, Butterfly?"

For the first time since the girl had met Ling, Cho smiled sheepishly at him. "Remember when I said that I was a wanted criminal? Well, I might have broke out of jail..." After a moment of awkward silence, her hand reached up and snatched the picture off of the wall, and she held it out so that she could take a better look at it. "They never get me right." Cho then crumpled up the paper and carelessly threw it over her shoulder.

As the girl walked away, Ling was forced to follow, his expression unreadable. "So, I am walking around the streets of Central with a wanted criminal?" he suddenly asked, his voice strangely quiet.

"Yep, pretty much sums it up," Cho responded, looking around at the people they passed by; anyone could know who she was now.

Afraid that she had frightened the prince, the girl turned her head to glance at Ling - only to find him wearing a wicked grin.

"How exciting!" he exclaimed, bounding forward and grabbing Cho's hand. The girl just stared at the Xingese prince as he continued: "Not only is a wondrous, beautiful young woman showing a poor foreign fellow like myself boundless generosity, but I learn that she is also capable of enormous feats! I would be exulted if you would be my empre-" Cho's fist interrupted Ling's speech.

"Don't you _dare _finish that word."

* * *

"I may have punched him a little too hard...," Cho muttered as she dragged around a half-conscious Ling. People were looking at her strange for carrying around a passed-out body, but she had been ignoring them so far, although she was afraid that she was attracting too much attention.

"Butterflyyy," Ling moaned as he was dragged across the street. "Whyyy..."

"Shut up," Cho grumbled, purposely letting the prince's head strike the ground. Suddenly his stomach grumbled at her too. "and shut your stomach up."

"I can't help iiit!"

Muttering to herself, the girl rounded a corner - only to see two MPs coming their way. "Damn!" she cursed, running behind a rather large metal trashcan. It took her a moment to realize that she had left something behind.

"Ling!" she hissed, gesturing towards where she was hiding. "Get over here!" But when the prince tried to get up, he promptly fell back down and started crawling, very slowly, toward her.

It was then that the Central police decided to check on Ling.

"Huh, what's this? A kid?" one asked, and poked the boy in the ribs, who squirmed and groaned. "He doesn't look like he's from around here..."

"Hey, kid," the other asked, crouching so that he could look at Ling's face. "Where are you from?" Cho couldn't hear the prince say anything, but the MP said, "Xing, huh? Do you have an entry visa?"

A deathly silence followed.

"C'mon, let's haul 'im in," The two Central police men each grabbed one of Ling's arms and dragged him away, perhaps toward jail, Cho wondered while her smile twitched. The prince looked toward her hiding spot and lipped, "Help me," to which she waved at him and whispered back, "I'm sorry!"

Cho crouched in the fetal position for a few minutes, then got back up and continued on.

_At least I got rid of him, _the girl comforted herself, but couldn't help but feel bad that she had just watched as they dragged her annoying new friend away.

* * *

_"Well, look what we have here," a voice announced smugly as the door slammed behind Cho. Dolcetto suddenly grasped her arms and harshly held her in place; he apparently thought that she was going to run away. Even though the girl would have liked to, it wouldn't have been possible, since there were dozens of angry-looking people glaring at her. "Our little thief has returned."_

_Cho huffed and looked away, but a hand clamped around her chin and lifted her head up so that she was glaring at violet orbs that slanted slightly in amusement and a mouth that portrayed a shark-like smirk._

_"Greed the Avaricious," Cho remarked, trying to appear casual and dauntless, even though her legs were shaking from the effort._

_"You got it." Greed rubbed his own chin, appearing thoughtful. His eyes peered into hers slyly as he said, "Now, how about you give it back?"_

_"Nope."_

_The man let her go of her chin and took a step back, the two glaring at each other. It seemed to be a mental screaming match, since not a single syllable was uttered, but their gazes cut into each others flesh like lasers._

_Cho finally broke the silence by saying, "So what if you lose one? You have - how many? - a hundred of them!" The girl pouted and stared down at the floor, which looked unswept and filthy._

_"The fact is," Cho was forced to look back up at the man as he responded, pointing a thumb at himself, "they're _mine_, sweetheart, and I don't take kindly to people stealing what's _mine_."_

_Cho growled and suddenly struggled wildly in Dolcetto's grasp, who looked strangely at the girl. "You know what, screw your vest! I sold it! Sooold it!"_

_Greed stalked forward and leaned down so that their faces were only inches apart. "You did what?" he growled, seeming ready to do something indescribably horrid to the girl. "You-"_

_"Boss," a tall blonde woman suddenly said, separating the two before one of them - more likely the girl - was murdered. "She's hardly skin and bones; I bet that I would be able to see her ribs." At the comment, the woman harshly jabbed Cho in the side, who gave a loud "Ow!" but otherwise stayed silent. "I'm not saying that what she did is right," The blonde glared at Cho, who pouted. "but maybe she had a good enough reason to steal."_

_Greed crossed his arms and scowled at the woman, who stared stonily back. "Alright, Martel," the man finally said, turning around and raising his shoulders in a casual shrug. "Why don't we just feed the little thief - and, oh, let's let her stay the night, too, while we're at it!" Greed started to walk away and Cho heard him mutter, "I need a drink..."_

* * *

Cho jolted awake as a suddenly clomping of feet filled her ears. It was dark where she was, and it took her a moment to remember. _Oh, yeah, _she thought as she scrambled to her feet, waiting for her eyes to adjust. _I passed out in a back-alley while I was looking for the Central jail..._

Even though the prince had been an annoying, persistent, unrelenting pain from the very start, she had grown somewhat fond of the boy and felt bad that he had been dragged off like dead-meat, so she had gone in search of his captivity.

Shaking her head, Cho cautiously edged toward the noise that had awoken her and peered around a corner. Luckily, there seemed to be a single light in the alley in front of her, so she was able to see three people running away from her hiding spot, but she was unable to identify them because the light was so poor. The girl was about to turn away when she spotted two easily recognizable forms enter through a side-alley.

_It's the short kid and the suit of armor, _Cho thought idly, suddenly interested. She hadn't seen or heard from them since they separated from the train station, and she was suddenly curious as to what they had been up to.

"Lieutenant Ross!" Fullmetal shouted, while Al and a person in armor shouted at the same time, "IT'S YOU!"

"And - Ling? What are you doing with this guy?" Cho heard, and her head shot up.

_Ling._

_Pain-in-the-ass Princey_.

The golden-eyed girl started slowly walking toward the commotion as the big guy in the suit of armor started waving somewhere to the right and shouted, "Alright, girlie, go this way! The shadows'll hide you. Quickly, go!" The said man suddenly charged Alphonse, wielding a cleaver and swiping at the bodiless boy.

A form quickly darted into the alley-way, while Ed cried, "Lieutenant!" The blonde seemed like he wanted to follow the person, but glanced back at his brother, who was still engaged in combat with the cleaver-wielding man.

Cho cringed against the wall as a sudden explosion ringed in her ears, in the direction the "lieutenant" had gone. The girl watched as the man suddenly stopped fighting and stepped back.

"Well, that's my cue," he said, and started running toward Cho. Unable to see the girl, he passed her, and Ling followed, yelling over his shoulder, "I promise that I will explain this later!" and fled into the night.

* * *

"We're being followed," Ling said to his bodiless companion, holding a hand near the side of his face as to not be heard. He had been sensing the same unwavering chi for a while now, stalking the two. He had found that looking behind them was fruitless, for he could not see a single thing in the shadows that plagued the side-streets of Central.

"Huh? How do you-" Barry was asking, but the Xingese prince clamped his hand over the armor's mouth - which would have worked for any normal human, but not for whose soul had been thrown carelessly within a hunk of metal. "Hey, get your hand off of me!" the man cried, pushing Ling away.

"Shh, they're probably listening in on us right now!" the boy whispered, glancing behind them. Barry glanced also, but could see nothing but the darkness around them.

"Alright, kid, I think that you've gone crazy."

It was then that Ling suddenly leapt into the darkness, and Barry heard a hard "Oomf!" that resounded in the air. There seemed to be a scuffle, then silence.

"Kid? Are you alright?"

"Butterfly?" Barry heard, then a smack filled the air as the kid landed at his feet.

"You idiot!" a girl raged as she came into Barry's view. She was pointing a finger threateningly at Ling, who looked like a scolded dog. "Here I was, worrying about you, and then I see that you're running around with some stranger, and I think, 'Oh, was he kidnapped?'. I follow you guys around, hoping to save you, and YOU GO AND TACKLE ME!" The girl crossed her arms and glared at Ling, who blinked up at her.

_Whoa, she's kinda scary, _Barry thought for a moment, pitying the kid. _But feisty. I like that. I'd also like to chop her up. _The armor's soul wickedly grinned - if it was seemingly possible - and continued to watch the amusing turn of events.

"Aww, you were worried about me, Butterfly?"

"Wha - YOU - _shut up!_"

* * *

**I, um, know that I said I'd post every two weeks, but I had this chapter ready, plus it's my birthday, so I thought that I'd give curious peoples an extra chapter. I'll post number four on the 20th or 21st, since that was my deadline for this one. **

**I'm sorry about the crappy, rushed scenes; the only one I really liked was with how I introduced Greed. Oh, and if you didn't get what they were talking about: Cho had stolen one of his beloved vests and sold it.**

**My writing tends to be formal for a while, and then I switch to informal... Like, really big words and kind of an objective view point, and then I get into writing the characters and it goes "fdifjidsfj"... **

**Also, the last scene with Barry and Ling has both of their view points, but not Cho's. I just thought that I would insert that.**

**I hope that you liked this! Thank you any readers, followers, favourite-ers, and reviewers!**

**(I hope I didn't make anyone too OOC ;n;)**

**-Kait-chan**


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